US-backed fighters reach ISIS-held dam in north Syria

BEIRUT — U.S.-backed Syrian fighters reached a major dam held by the Islamic State group in northern Syria Friday as Syria’s U.N. ambassador said hundreds of American personnel are “invading my country,” insisting that any effort to liberate the city of Raqqa — the de facto capital of the Islamic State group — should be done in coordination with the Damascus government.

The push toward the Tishrin Dam came three days after U.S. aircraft ferried Syrian Kurdish fighters and allies behind Islamic State lines to spearhead a major ground assault on the IS-held town of Tabqa where the dam is located.

Syrian Arab and Kurdish fighters have encountered light resistance in northern Syria after U.S. pilots airlifted them into combat, an American officer said Friday, suggesting the operation caught Islamic State militants by surprise.

The airlift was the first of its kind in Syria, designed to kick-start the offensive to recapture IS-held territory west of Raqqa.

The Islamic State, also known as ISIS, has been pounded in Syria in recent months with attacks from three fronts: the U.S.backed fighters, Turkish troops and their allies near the border with Turkey, and government forces in Aleppo.

The government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media said government forces captured late Friday the town of Deir Hafer, the last ISIS stronghold in Aleppo province.

After losing wide areas they once held in Syria, ISIS extremists now are mostly present in the northern province of Raqqa and the eastern region of Deir el-Zour that borders Iraq.